My arm throbbed painfully as I held the beaten, bruised, bloody Purrloin in my arms.

She looked up at me with her green eye, wide with concern, her other eye closed, swollen shut.

I looked down at her in shock.

This was the first time her eye had opened.

Liepard let out her voice sharply towards the trees.

“What’s going on?” Trixa cried.

The grass rustled as the being maneuvered itself closer to us.

“Who’s there?” I called determinedly as I felt Purrloin whine and kick in my arms, my heart beating with fear at what might show itself.

The being stepped out from between two trees and stared at us before quickly looking away.

“June!” I uttered.

“Hey, look! It’s June again!” Trixa clapped happily.

Liepard’s eyes tightened on June, but he didn’t make any noise.

“June! We don’t have time for your stupidity!” I snapped. “Just get away from us! We’re trying to get to Striaton City!”

“Well, I still have to get my credit card from there, too!” she shot back.

“Whatever,” I said moodily, and turned away from her.

“Besides, I-” June started.

“Puuuuurrrrr…” Purrloin moaned in a weak voice. Her eyes were closed in pain, and when her good eye opened again, it were layered with a film of water as it glimmered sadly up at me. Her eye began to close again, just barely open. She appeared to be losing consciousness.

“We have to go!” I ran past June, away from Trixa, Liepard hobbling quickly after me. At the top of the hill, I stopped to see a large city beneath me. “It’s here!” I immediately ran towards the city.

Striaton City was filled with tall buildings, short buildings, skinny buildings, wide buildings, short little apartment buildings reaching only three stories high, and fancier buildings, some with flags on the front of them. The streets were littered with trash. The air changed noticeably from the freshness of trees to the aroma of a bustling city, busy people, and light pollution. A few cars occupied the streets, while the sidewalk was occupied by the youth as kids and young teenagers ran by us, laughing, pushing each other, and standing around casually. It was a mix of rough grit and sleek, eye catching appeal.

As I ran by with a bleeding Pokemon in my arms and a hobbling Pokemon running behind me, trying to locate the Pokemon Center, several people in the streets stopped to stare at me, gasping and crying out, pointing at me. A couple of cars screeched to a halt and honked at me, but I ignored everything and everyone, running hard, pounding the pavement, trying to find help.

“Hey!” a voice yelled out, but I didn’t turn to it or stop.

A hand grabbed my shoulder suddenly.

“Get off of me!” I barked, turning to see a short man who was just about my height, with a beefy stature, wearing blue jeans and a zipped up black jacket.

The man gave me a serious look, the black iris in his eyes like ink as he nodded with his head across the street.

I turned and noticed the huge building immediately. “Thank you!” I said to the man, and looked both ways before running across the street, dashing towards the building of the Pokemon Center.

Several people sat in the lobby, talking in separate groups with each other, while one girl sat alone.

Nurse Joy sat behind a large counter.

Everyone’s attention turned to me as I ran up to Nurse Joy, the whispers loud and clear.

Nurse Joy stood up immediately and stepped from around her counter. “Oh, my goodness!” Her face was in complete disbelief at the Purrloin in my arms, briefly turning to the Liepard before returning to the smaller cat. “What happened to this poor Purrloin?”

“It was beaten by some people trying to capture it, Nurse Joy,” I explained as Purrloin squirmed in my arms, moaning loudly. “Her and her parent, Liepard.”

“Audino, this is an emergency!” Nurse Joy turned in distress at Liepard.

Liepard cried out and collapsed to the floor, breathing hard.

I turned as the front doors opened, and June and Trixa came running in.

Trixa ran up to me, but June stayed behind, watching the scene with disapproval.

The electronic doors in the back opened and a pair of Audino wheeled out a stretcher, walking on either side of it.

Nurse Joy carefully took the Purrloin from me. Purrloin screeched longly in agony and Nurse Joy placed her down gently on the stretcher.

The pair of Audino wheeled the screaming Purrloin through the back doors.

Another Audino came out with a stretcher and stopped near Liepard.

Nurse Joy and Audino slowly lifted Liepard up and placed him on his side on the new stretcher.

Liepard lifted his head and let out a purr before lowering his head back down and closing his eyes.

“It’s okay, now,” I told Liepard as Audino wheeled him to the back.

“And now, may you please follow me?” Nurse Joy asked me firmly.

“Me?”

She nodded. “You’re in need of some help as well.” She pointed at the floor.

I looked down and saw my blood coated arm dripping all over the floor. “Oh! My cut!”

Nurse Joy nodded. “We have to treat this as well.” She smiled and led the way towards the same doors the Pokemon were taken through.

*

“This isn’t the time nor the place,” I said to June irritably. “I’m not going to leave those two until I know they’re both okay. You, on the other hand, can get away from me.”

“I know you’re upset, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” June insisted sharply.

“I said get away from me. I don’t know why you came back in the first place.”

“I told you I need my card.”

“Fine. Then get it and then get away from me.” I stood up to walk away from her.

“Gary, ask anyone in Unova and they’ll tell you the same thing about them!” June got to her feet and followed me.

I whipped around quickly and took a threatening step towards June, making her inhale quick and back up a couple of feet. “Can you read Pokemon?” I demanded.

“Y-yes,” she stammered.

“Did you see any reason not to trust them?”

“It doesn’t work like that, Gary!” June insisted more nervously. “A Pokemon can lie, you know! I’m not psychic! I only know what I’m told!”

“You can’t go around judging Pokemon like that, June!” I screamed.

“Gary, I know this. I just…”

I felt the eyes on us and realized I needed to either keep my tone down, or just leave the Pokemon Center. There was no way I was leaving, so I took a deep breath and sat down in one of the chairs against the wall in a corner in front of a table.

June followed after me hesitantly, Trixa staying where the three of us had been sitting just a moment ago, remaining in her seat by the window, staring sadly outside.

I had taken a shower and changed my clothes in the back after Nurse Joy had looked me over. She wrapped my arm up in gauze and I returned to the lobby while she and the Audino cared for Purrloin and Liepard.

“Pokedex data is just an assumption,” I said calmly to June as she took a seat opposite me. “Or better yet, a generalization. It doesn’t define all Pokemon, June. It just tells the natural traits of them. You act as if it’s impossible that a Purrloin and Liepard could have gotten beaten up and needed help.”

“It’s not impossible, I know. This just isn’t sitting right with me. I read their honesty. I read their need for help. But-”

“Then the discussion is closed!” I said a little too loudly. I took a couple of deep breaths before speaking more softly. “Once you get your stupid card from Nurse Joy, I’m asking you to leave.”

“What?” June whispered loudly, looking at me like I was crazy.

“You actually wanted to abandon a pair of Pokemon,” I told her, shaking my head. “Badly injured Pokemon. I can’t be friends with someone like you. You have to go.”

“Gary, I would have told Nurse Joy about those two Pokemon when we got here!” June pleaded. “She could have sent the police or something to get them. I wouldn’t have just abandoned them like that! I just didn’t want them with us!”

Something flipped in the back of my mind. The wrong switch. I shook my head. “I can’t stand to look at you any longer,” I admitted. “Don’t follow me anymore. Just get away from me before I lose my cool with you. I’m not moving this time. Get your disgusting face... person!... away from me before I throw up!”

June’s face scrunched up in dramatically at my words and her eyes filled with tears. She quickly covered her face and ran from the Pokemon Center.

I had no regrets. That’s what I wanted to believe, but a painful feeling in my chest was telling me otherwise. I was furious with June, and to make my point clear that I didn’t want her traveling with me anymore, I had said something unnecessarily mean, and I knew it. But at least she left. Knowing she was the kind of person who could leave a clearly injured, dying Pokemon like that did make me feel nauseous being around her. I crossed my arms in front of me on the table and gently rested my head on them, closing my eyes. My last vision before I fell asleep was Trixa, who was staring at the floor, looking sadder than ever.

*

“I’ll never get used to this kind of food,” Trixa complained. “My mom’s food is so much better. Even takeout is better than this.”

I mumbled something and nodded, not really paying attention.

“Is the Pokemon Center food in Kanto this bad, too?” she asked me.

“It’s alright,” I muttered.

“So, it’s better?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said quickly.

“I should maybe ask my parents if I can visit Kanto one day. Is it like Unova?”

“Sort of.”

“Have you been to any other regions?”

“Not really.”

Trixa and I were in the cafeteria of the Pokemon Center, Trixa eating dinner.

Nurse Joy had informed me that Purrloin and Liepard would be fine, but it could take weeks before they recovered and were ready to be released back into the wild.

I didn’t care if it took months. I’d wait for them to be let out. I may even wait years if I had to. Those Pokemon suffered at the hands of humans. Their trust might be diminished. I’d show them that we can’t be defined by the actions of a small group. Just like I wouldn’t judge all Purrloin or Liepard by the actions of some of them, like June had done.

June hadn’t come back in the several hours since she had run out of the Pokemon Center.

I skipped lunch since I had no appetite, Trixa leaving me in the lobby to go downstairs and eat before returning and taking a seat next to me.

She had immediately begun talking about how terrible the lunch was, and then inquired about going to the Striaton Gym.

I told her she could go if she wanted, but I was going to stay around for Liepard and Purrloin, so she chose to stay for a while, too. This resulted in her talking about a slew of random things from movies she wanted to see, to how different her life was now, to her days in school, to the games her parents would play with her, to her favorite cereals, to the kinds of leaves she used to love eating until she accidentally ate a poisonous leaf and got really sick, influencing her to not eat leaves anymore…

I only went downstairs for dinner with Trixa because Nurse Joy had told me that the two Pokemon were going to be okay, but I still had no appetite. My main concern was Purrloin and Liepard and making sure I was around for them both, available for anything Nurse Joy had to tell me about them. I didn’t eat. I just sat with Trixa while she ate and talked, trying to ignore the pain of my arm where I’d been attacked by Purrloin.

We had gone back upstairs and were sitting together on a long bench against the wall, the lobby occupying only two other people who were sitting apart from each other, seeming to be waiting for something as they looked around, bored.

Nurse Joy and her Audino were in the back, still taking care of the Pokemon, including Trixa’s and my new Pokemon, which we gave to Nurse Joy when she came out earlier to tell me that Purrloin and Liepard would be fine.

Hours passed by as I began to dwell on what I had been through so far. My escape from Pallet. Leaving Charizard behind. My Porygon-Z going missing. Meeting Ella and Trixa...

Ella… Beautiful, gorgeous, perfect… I ran out of words as I thought about her, remembering her smile, her outfit, her shape, her eyes... There were only but so many words that I knew to describe her, but whatever other words there were out there that fit her, I longed to know them just because they defined her. My eyes began to close as my thoughts focused on Ella. Where is she right now? Is she thinking about me at all? Has she thought of me even once? Would she even remember my name if we meet again? Would she even recognize me?

“I wish me and my boyfriend could travel around the world like you two do,” Ella’s words repeated in my mind, and I sighed, reflecting on them.

Suddenly, Trixa popped into my head wearing a blue jeans skirt and matching button up jacket, standing next to Ella, smiling her friendly smile, her eyes twinkling, brushing back her long, dark hair as she fluttered her eyes at me.

The three of us stood in a strange area of complete blackness all around us.

Trixa stepped up to me and handed me a Poke Ball. “Here you go, Gary. This is your Pokemon! Think nothing of it. Just take it!” She pulled me into a hug, and I gratefully hugged her as well, the sweet, sugary, fruit filled aroma of her hair surrounding me. After a long while, Trixa released me and took a step back, still smiling. “Go ahead! Send her out!”

“Huh?” I held out the Poke Ball and a white beam sent out the Pokemon inside.

“Puuuuurrrrrloin!” The Pokemon happily wagged her tail.

“Purrloin! You’re okay!” I ran up to her and picked her up.

All of her bruises and injuries were gone. There was no blood anywhere. She was in perfect health! Purrloin licked my face repeatedly.

I looked over to Trixa. “This is… for me?”

Trixa nodded happily. “You deserve her! You stuck by her side and made sure she was alright and got the help she needed. She’s yours.”

“Trixa, thank you so much for this! I don’t know what to say!” My eyes teared up and I felt drops run down my cheeks.

“Just say that you’ll travel with me and Ella together through Unova!” Trixa said eagerly. “Travel with us, and let’s be the best of friends! Forever!”

“Okay! I agree!” I said with excitement, turning to Ella.

Ella walked over to me, her black shorts above her knees, tight on her, a gray T-shirt reaching down to her hips. Her wrapped me in a hug and whispered in my ear, “I’m so glad to finally have a boyfriend who actually wants to travel with me.”

I felt my legs getting weak to her words, quaking as her breath blew against my ear, my entire body quivering badly, my heart feeling like it had just exploded in my chest.

Ella’s lips got closer to my cheek as they puckered towards them.

Something grabbed my shoulder roughly and shook me hard. “Gary! Come on!”

“Huh?” I gasped and turned to see June desperately shaking me. “June!”

“Gary!” she said, rocking me roughly.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“WHOA!” I opened my eyes and looked up into the eyes of June. “What the…?” That’s when I turned and noticed that I was laying down on the bench in the Pokemon Center, my head in the lap of Trixa! “YYYAAAAAHHHH!!!!” I sat up and moved away from her.

“Good morning, Gary,” Trixa smiled. “Sleep well?”

“What the hell was I doing in your lap?!” I moved away from her even further.

Trixa smiled at me, but she didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on, a creepy, lost gaze in her twinkling eyes. “I don’t know! I just woke up and you were there! So I pet your hair like a little puppy and watched you sleep so peacefully. I told June and Nurse Joy not to wake you up, but June insisted that you had to find out what happened to your Town Map, and she woke you up rather rudely. Naughty, naughty, Juni.” Trixa scowled and waved her pointer finger at June as if she were scolding a child.

“Wait, my Town Map?” I asked, patting my pockets. “Hey!” I stood up and pulled my pockets inside out, but it wasn’t there. Moving my injured arm so strongly caused it to sting badly, but I ignored it and grabbed my backpack and emptied it on the floor. I pushed the contents around, flipped around my clothes, unfolded them and shook them, but the Town Map wasn’t in my bag, either.

“Gary, it’s not there,” June said, her voice shaking.

I turned to her. “What are you talking about?” I yelled at her, standing up and taking a step towards her.

June stepped back, swallowing with a grunt, fearfully, . “Th-th-they took it.”

“Speak so I know what you’re talking about, June! What’s going on here??”

“Purrloin. Liepard.” June paused. “They’re gone. They took your Town Map with them.”

I stared at June with a mix of anger and confusion. “What do you mean they took my Town Map…?” I asked slowly.

“Liepard and Purrloin ran off early this morning at around four,” Nurse Joy said from behind me.

I turned around to face her, my glare softening. “What? I don’t understand,” I spoke with more concern and confusion than rage.

“They took both of our Town Maps, although the video only shows them taking yours,” Trixa said, running her hand through her hair.

“I can show you the video,” Nurse Joy offered, two of her Audino by her side with worried looks on their faces. “Although, to be honest, it doesn’t show very much at all other than them breaking out and running off with your Town Map.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “That doesn’t make any sense! Purrloin was hurt badly! Liepard was hurt, too! There’s no way they could just run off like that!”

“I told you, Gary!” June burst out angrily. “I told you they weren’t to be trusted! They were obviously faking! Total liars! They fooled you and ended up robbing you, just like I said!”

I stared at June in shock, unable to reply.

“No,” Nurse Joy spoke up. She shook her head. “Purrloin was very badly injured and could have died. Her skull was fractured, tail trampled on and mangled, her fur ripped out. There was no faking those injuries. Liepard’s back paw was also broken. How they got out, and more importantly, why, is unknown. They were in too much pain. I don’t understand what happened at all.”

“Show me the video, please!” I demanded.

Nurse Joy nodded. “This way.”

I scooped all of my stuff back into my backpack quickly, and then June, Trixa, and I followed Nurse Joy through the doors in the back.

*

Liepard stood up from the counter he was on, a large white blanket underneath him, his right back leg wrapped up in white gauze. He stretched for a couple of seconds, arching his back, and then looked over at Purrloin, who was in a large capsule that looked identical to several others in the room they were in.

An individual Pokemon laid in each one of these capsules which sat on a metal column which held a white blanket in it where the Pokemon rested comfortably, a clear, curved top covering them, keeping them inside. All of the Pokemon were asleep.

Purrloin’s capsule top was open, her head wrapped in several rounds of gauze, her tail wrapped up completely, bandages across her body making ‘X’ signs all over her.

Liepard leaped to the ground, landing near Purrloin’s capsule. He flinched in pain, baring his teeth as he stood up on his hind legs, his front paws on the blanket Purrloin was sleeping on, and he nuzzled her with his nose, immediately waking her up.

Purrloin stood up and stretched, seeming to cry out in pain, though it couldn’t be heard since there was no sound on the video. She leaped quickly to the floor to join her dad. They both quickly ran from the room.

Nurse Joy typed on the keyboard several times and the video shrunk to join numerous small screens, each one containing a video from one of several of the cameras throughout the Pokemon Center that was recording at that time. One of the screens increased and took over the screen as Nurse Joy typed feverishly.

Liepard and Purrloin were now in the lobby.

It was just me and Trixa there, the both of us sleeping, my head in her lap for some reason while she had her head tilted back against the wall, her mouth wide open.

Purrloin watched as Liepard leaped onto the bench Trixa and I were sleeping on and dug through my jeans with her head, finally pulling something out with his teeth.

My Town Map!

Liepard leaped from the bench and ran swiftly for the doors. The doors opened, and Liepard looked back at Purrloin, nudging his head, urging her to follow him.

Purrloin looked over to me and slowly crept over to the bench. She leaped on top of it and gently, carefully, crawled over to my sleeping face. Her paw gently touched my cheek and she gave it a small lick before turning to Liepard and leaped from the bench before running outside.

Liepard took a look around the Pokemon Center, my Town Map still in his mouth, his eyes landing on the bench where Trixa and I were sleeping, and he froze for a moment. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

The doors closed shortly after.

Nurse Joy pressed a button on the keyboard, pausing the video.

Silence filled the room for the longest time. No one seemed to know what to say, or didn’t want to say what was on their mind.

I had no idea how to interpret this video.

“I wish there was more to it, but we have no idea where they went or why,” Nurse Joy finally spoke up. “The surveillance cameras in the city don’t cover the entire city. The ones that show any signs of Purrloin and Liepard aren’t very helpful. They just move too quickly. They are known for their speed. Trixa’s Town Map is also missing, so I think either Liepard or Purrloin may have snatched Trixa’s Town Map at a speed the camera couldn’t catch. You saw how quickly it vanished from the front door.”

“They stole your valuable items, like I said,” June said quietly. “That’s what this was all about all along.”

I turned to June angrily. “Oh, just shut it, will you?” I shouted. “They took a couple of Town Maps! They didn’t take my bag, or any of Trixa’s food! They only took our Town Maps! What the hell are they gonna do with Town Maps? They can’t read!”

“They’re valuable items, Gary!” June argued, insisting on her point. “They could sell them to someone!”

“To WHO?! And then what? Go to Vegas? Buy freaking catnip?? What the hell are a couple of animals gonna do with money, June??!”

“Come on, you guys, please!” Trixa begged. “Don’t fight again.” Trixa grabbed my unharmed arm. “June came back. Please, I don’t want her to leave again. Let’s all just be friends, alright? Please? You can even lay in my lap again!” She smiled brightly.

I yanked my arm away from her grip and shot her a dirty look. “No, thanks. I’ll pass,” I said grudgingly.

Trixa looked down sadly.

I turned back to June. “She licked me. Even Liepard seemed to be troubled by what he was doing. I can’t read Pokemon or anything, but it sure looked like they were showing some signs of remorse for what they were doing.”

“But why were they doing it?” was the question June brought up.

Why?

That was the question we all wondered as the four of us looked at each other with not one idea as to the answer between us.